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Sunday, March 13, 2022

03/13 Links: Iran attacks Kurdish region in Iraq in message to US; The West is selling out to Iran to lower gas prices; Lapid says ‘no justification’ for Russia invading Ukraine

From Ian:

Jonathan Tobin: The West is selling out to Iran to lower gas prices
The administration would like to halt the unfolding tragedy in Ukraine. To its credit, it is not so foolish as to listen to the delusional advice of those who want NATO to become a combatant in the war by imposing a no-fly zone that would have unknowable and likely catastrophic consequences. The grim truth is that after cutting the Russians off from the international economy and sending armaments, Washington has likely done all it could reasonably hope to help Ukrainians, who are bravely resisting the Russian onslaught. But if Putin is truly determined to get his way by any means possible, then he continues to hold all the cards.

Still, it's time to stop the pretense that outreach to Venezuela or Iran is really about Russia.

With respect to Venezuela, it's a tragic abandonment of the already beleaguered democracy movement in that country that has been as thoroughly squelched by the leftist regime as anything Putin has done in Russia or would like to do in Ukraine.

With respect to Iran, the rush to get their oil on the market is more than a betrayal of principle that won't help democracy in Ukraine or anywhere else. It's a sellout of American security interests, as well as allies like Israel and the Arab states that are directly threatened by an accord that doesn't put off an Iranian nuclear weapon so much as it guarantees that Tehran will get one at the end of the decade or sooner. As Gabriel Noronha details in an article in Tablet, the new deal is "much, much worse" in terms of its appeasement of Iranian terror, in addition to failing to accomplish the pact's stated goal of preventing this fanatical Islamist regime from becoming a nuclear power.

The current rush to implement this disgraceful measure is rooted in Biden's political woes. The record inflation ravaging American households is the fruit of his failed policies that downgraded American oil production – not just the recent spike in gas prices caused by sanctions on Russia. But what he's doing now is creating an existential threat to Israel and other Iranian targets merely in order to try and keep the prices at the pump from going any higher while pretending that it will stop the bloodshed in Ukraine.

It's difficult to imagine a more cynical or destructive policy than one that endangers friends merely in order to boost the president's political standing at home. Much as Americans want to put a lid on gas prices, to buy that outcome by appeasing Iran is an immoral abandonment of American interests and obligations that won't aid Ukraine or stop Putin.
Ruderman Family Slams Amnesty-USA Official Who Rejected Jewish American Support for Israel Based on ‘Gut Feeling’
After Amnesty International USA director Paul O’Brien called into question a Ruderman Family Foundation survey on the connection American Jews have to Israel, based on “his gut,” Jay Ruderman, President of the foundation issued the following statement:

“By rejecting a comprehensive survey of 2,500 American Jews that overwhelmingly support Israel saying ‘his gut’ tells him otherwise, O’Brien dismisses verified data. It is indefensible for the organization’s USA director to reject the verified opinion of the American Jewish community.”

The 2020 study, commissioned by the Ruderman Family Foundation and conducted by the highly respected Mellman Group, found that eight in 10 Jewish Americans identify as “pro-Israel,” and two-thirds feel emotionally “attached” or “very attached” to the Jewish state.

In published reports on a Women’s National Democratic Club event on Wednesday, O’Brien commented on the data saying: “I actually don’t believe that to be true. I believe my gut tells me that what Jewish people in this country want is to know that there’s a sanctuary that is a safe and sustainable place that the Jews, the Jewish people can call home.”

Having sampled 2,500 Jews representing the adult Jewish population in the US, the foundation’s survey is one of the most comprehensive studies of the Jewish community in the United States in recent years, and one of the largest ever.

“If Amnesty International dismisses American facts, it calls their own reports into question,” Ruderman quipped. “Gut instincts should not be the basis for shaping opinion and policy.”

According to Jewish Insider, O’Brien suggested at a Women’s National Democratic Club meeting that most American Jews don’t want Israel to be a Jewish state, but rather “a safe Jewish space” based on “core Jewish values.”


Ballistic Missiles Hit Iraq’s Kurdish Capital, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Claim Responsibility
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed responsibility for a dozen ballistic missiles that struck Iraq’s northern Kurdish regional capital of Erbil in the early hours of Sunday, Iran’s state media reported, adding that the attack was against Israeli “strategic centers” in Erbil.

The missile attack comes as talks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal face the prospect of collapse after a last-minute Russian demand forced world powers to pause negotiations for an undetermined time despite having a largely completed text.

The missiles, which targeted the US consulate’s new building, caused material damage and one civilian was injured, the Kurdish interior ministry said. An Iraqi security official told Reuters that the missiles were manufactured in Iran.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards released a statement taking responsibility for the missile attack against Israeli “strategic centers” in Erbil, Iran’s state media reported.

“Any repetition of attacks by Israel will be met with a harsh, decisive and destructive response,” the Revolutionary Guard said in the statement.

A US official blamed Iran for the attack earlier on Sunday but did not give further details.

A Kurdish spokesperson for the regional authorities said that Sunday’s attack only targeted civilian residential areas, not a foreign base and called on the international community to carry out an investigation.

Separately, a US State Department spokesperson called it an “outrageous attack” but said no Americans were hurt and there was no damage to US government facilities in Erbil.


Seth Frantzman: Iran attacks Kurdish region in Iraq in message to US
Iran’s message appears to be that it can drive the US out of Iraq. While the Kurdistan region is autonomous and has generally been peaceful, prosperous and safe, the Iranian message is that it can target the US wherever the US has facilities.

Reports also say that damage was done to the Kurdistan24 media building in Erbil. This means Iran may be targeting media linked to the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party, and trying to send a message to Kurdish leadership as well.

Social media users have said the missiles used in the March 13 attack were Fateh missiles. These are large missiles with a large warhead. Video reports also showed the missile impacts. With such large missiles and so many of them fired, the fact there are no casualties appears interesting.

Iran may have planned to hit areas without many people and after 1a.m. when many are home. However, this could be luck as well. When Iran targeted the Assad base in January 2020 there were no casualties but subsequent reports noted how close the US came to losing lives. Many US soldiers had concussions after the ballistic missile attacks.

The attack shows the danger of Iranian missiles and also Iran’s ability to carry out precision strikes. It is likely a message to the US as the Iran deal talks appear to be failing.

With the talks failing Iran is saying it can go back to targeting US forces as it did in 2019 and that these attacks could get worse.

The US consulate building in Erbil is supposed to be an alternative to the US Embassy in Baghdad because of its size. It was designed to be safe and secure in a friendly Kurdish region. However, the attacks show that Iran can easily target the US facility.
Seth Frantzman: Why did Iranian media claim Iran targeted ‘two advanced Israeli centers’ in Erbil
Iran took credit for targeting northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Region with a dozen missiles on Sunday morning. It claimed responsibility for targeting a US military base, the US Consulate in Erbil, “two Mossad training centers in Erbil and an explosion in the Sulaimaniyah area in northern Iraq,” according to Iran’s Fars News Agency and Tasnim News Agency.

Both of the news agencies quoted other media outlets regarding claims Iran struck at Israeli sites, but they nevertheless put the claims in their headlines, which appeared to launder or affirm the reports.

Fars and Tasnim are considered close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, so their reports represent the Iranian government position on the attacks that occurred.

How does Iran benefit from this?

Iran is openly bragging about the attacks. Tehran’s decision to try to connect Israel with these attacks that targeted an area near where the US is building a large new consulate in northern Iraq may bring Iran several benefits.

Firstly, it makes it seem like Iran is targeting Israel, without Iran having to target inside Israel using missiles. Secondly, this is not the first time Iran spread claims it targeted the “Mossad” in northern Iraq. Last April, Iran also claimed it targeted the “Mossad” in northern Iraq. Kurdish officials at the time denied any Israeli presence in the autonomous region.

Iran used 14 122-mm. “Grad” rockets to “hit near the US military base on the outskirts of Erbil Airport and around the US Consulate in Erbil,” an Iranian media report said, adding that “the US Consulate headquarters in Erbil, the capital of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, had been hit by five missiles.”


Seth Frantzman: Did Russia empower Iran’s attack on Erbil?
Iran has also read the reports in US media regarding the skeptics who oppose escalation in Ukraine – the ones who argue that “the West is to blame” and that “NATO provoked Russia.” Iran knows that some of these voices are also against conflict with Iran.

For instance, Iran can read The New Yorker, where US academic John Mearsheimer is quoted. The headline of the article blames the US and the West for the crisis in Ukraine. The Economist also ran an article headlined, “John Mearsheimer on why the West is principally responsible for the Ukrainian crisis.”

In 2008, Foreign Affairs and PBS highlighted another theory by the same academic: “John Mearsheimer, political science professor at the University of Chicago, says a nuclear-armed Iran would bring stability to the region, but Dov Zakheim, former Pentagon official now with the Center for Naval Analyses, says it would trigger an arms race.”

In 2007, Mearsheimer, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, and Stephen Walt wrote a scathing attack on “the Israel lobby and US foreign policy.”

This is all linked. The argument that NATO is responsible for pushing expansion in the early 2000s, which provoked Russia to attack Ukraine; and that Israel is somehow harmful to US foreign policy because of the confrontation with Iran; and even the argument that Iran can bring stability to the Middle East, which is connected to the idea that Russia is provoked, showcases how Iran hopes to achieve in Iraq what Russia is doing in Ukraine.

In short, Iran counts on the US being afraid of “war” and US voices blaming America first. Iran wants to turn Iraq into a “near abroad” and also swallow up Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.

Russia wants to return Ukraine to its “near abroad” and counts on US isolationists, the far Left, far Right and “realists” in the West to agree with Russia’s “security needs.” Iran wants to ride that Russian train as far as it can as well.


The Caroline Glick Show Ep42 – Biden Sets a Trap for Israel | Guest: Michael Doran
Why did Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett fly to Moscow to “mediate,” between Russia and Ukraine? Why are progressives in the U.S. and the Ukrainian leadership attacking Israel over its position on Russia? In this week’s episode, Caroline spoke with Michael Doran from the Hudson Institute about the way the Biden administration is using the war in Ukraine to demonize Israel and Saudi Arabia as a means to market the nuclear deal with Iran and what Israel the Gulf States, and Turkey can do to withstand the consequences of Biden’s policies.


'Russia behaves like Hamas, Israel should understand this better than anyone'
"Russia is behaving like Hamas, just bigger and far more dangerous, and Israel should understand this better than anyone," Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Russian Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, told Israel Hayom over the weekend.

Podolyak, 50, one of Zelenskyy's closest advisers, is a former journalist who two years ago was labeled by a Ukrainian newspaper as the third-most influential person in the country. He has been advising Zelenskyy since 2020, and is in charge of crisis management and coordinating media policy. These days, he is also part of the small delegation managing talks with Russian representatives in an effort to end the war. In a conversation with Israel Hayom from the most famous briefing room in the world at the moment, Podolyak discusses the humanitarian disaster caused by Russia's bombardment of Ukrainian civilians and Israel's role as a mediator.

Q: It was reported in Israel over the weekend that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett advised Zelenskyy to accept Russian President Vladimir Putin's demands. What can you say about this information?

"This is faulty information. The ultimatums in the initial Russian package were fundamentally unacceptable because they were predicated on the distorted perception about what Ukraine is, who the leaders of Ukraine are, and what the Ukrainian army is, etc. Russia's expectation was that a quick [military] operation would provide the desired result within a day, or at the very least two days. Now, after 17 days of fighting, it seems Russia understands its situation far better and what it will gain from this war. Hence the package of Russian demands is becoming more appropriate. Their package is still not ready, and as of now no mediator, including Prime Minister Bennett, has advised 'taking the Russian offer,' taking into account the way Ukraine is fighting.

"You need to understand something, and in my opinion, your prime minister understands this very well: Public opinion matters a lot in Ukraine. We are a free country where society influences the government's positions. We are not an autocracy where the government makes decisions and the people fall in line. The people today will not accept any ultimatum, and won't agree to lay down their weapons. The potential mediators understand this, they see Zelenskyy's firm resolve, and therefore no one will ask of us to simply 'meet the demands of the Russian Federation.' The Israeli leadership understands very well the conditions under which negotiations can be held and the concessions Ukraine will not make."

Meanwhile, according to a report by Barak Ravid of the Axios news site, Zelenskyy on Saturday said he had proposed to hold peace talks with Russia in Jerusalem, adding that Israel could provide "security guarantees."


Ukrainian defense official: We appreciate Bennett’s mediation
Israel can play an important role in mediation between Ukraine and Russia, Advisor to Ukraine’s defense minister Markiyan Lubkivskyi said on Friday.

“Thank you so much Israel for your support,” Lubkivskyi said. “I think that your country can play a crucial role in this story. And I think that you can be a mediator to stop Putin. This is a message [Kyiv] wants to send to you.”

Soon after Lubkivskyi spoke to The Jerusalem Post, Walla News reported that Bennett is pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to accept Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demands to end the war and that Kyiv is upset with Israel’s stance.

However, Lubkivskyi was more positive about Jerusalem and showed understanding of its delicate situation with Moscow, which is the dominant force over Israel’s northern border with Syria.

“We appreciate the dialogue we have with Israel, and we appreciate the dialogue between your leader and President Zelensky,” Lubkivskyi said. “I think that we also understand that…you are in a very sensitive position, I have to say, because you have a lot of people who are who came from the former Soviet Union, and they are Russians, they are Ukrainians.”
Lapid says ‘no justification’ for Russia invading Ukraine as he meets Romanian PM
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said Sunday that there was “no justification” for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as he met with Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca in Bucharest to discuss the crisis.

The foreign minister tweeted that “like Romania, Israel condemns the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

“It’s without justification, and we call on Russia to stop its firing and attacks, and to resolve this conflict around the negotiating table,” he wrote.

“Israel will do all it can to help reach a peaceful solution,” Lapid said. “We are working in complete coordination with our ally, the United States, and with our European partners in order to try and end this violent tragedy as quickly as possible.”

Lapid also stressed, in a tweet from the Romania-Ukraine border crossing at Siret, that Israel has “a moral obligation to be part of the international effort to help refugees from Ukraine find a warm home and a bed to sleep on.”

“It’s our obligation not only to be good Jews but to be good people,” he added, in comments that contrasted with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s repeated stress that Israel’s “sacred” task is to focus on Jewish refugees. Israel has also capped the number of non-Jewish refugees it will accept at 25,000 — 20,000 of whom were in Israel before the Russian invasion.


Russia open to Ukraine negotiations in Jerusalem
Russia has been open to holding negotiations with Ukraine in Jerusalem, a senior diplomatic source said on Saturday, soon after Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on the phone.

Zelensky said earlier Saturday that “at present it’s not constructive to hold meetings in Russia, Ukraine, or Belarus. These are not the places where we can agree to stop the war... Do I consider Israel, Jerusalem in particular, to be such a place? I think the answer is yes.”

Russia has not rejected the idea of negotiations in Jerusalem, the diplomatic source said, but Israel is not sure it should host the talks.

“We know from our experience that negotiations that don’t have a chance lead to a worse situation on the ground,” the source said.

“We have to see if we can really be helpful,” the source added. “If there can be a breakthrough, we’ll do anything.”


1 American journalist killed, 1 wounded by Russian forces near Kyiv - police
An American journalist was killed and another wounded by Russian forces in Irpen near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, the Kyiv Region Police head said Sunday.

The killed journalist was identified by Ukrainian police as Brent Renaud, a 51-year-old journalist, filmmaker and US citizen. While Ukrainian authorities initially identified Renaud as a The New York Times correspondent, he was not in Ukraine reporting on behalf of The Times.

"We are deeply saddened to hear of Brent Renaud's death. Brent was a talented filmmaker who had contributed to The New York Times over the years," read a statement from the outlet. "Though he had contributed to The Times in the past (most recently in 2015), he was not on assignment for any desk at The Times in Ukraine. Early reports that he worked for Times circulated because he was wearing a Times press badge that had been issued for an assignment many years ago."

"Today American journalist and filmmaker Brent Renaud was killed by the Russian army near Kyiv. Another journalist was wounded," tweeted Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko. "We urge international media organizations to condemn the barbaric killing of civilians in Ukraine and to demand an immediate cessation of hostilities by Russia. "


Ukraine’s sole woman rabbi escapes Odesa as key strategic city prepares for battle
On her first Shabbat away from the fighting in Ukraine, Rabbi Julia Gris twice led services to welcome the Jewish holy day.

A week earlier, Ukraine’s only woman rabbi had been fleeing the war that scattered her Odesa congregation from Moldova to Romania and Israel. Some stayed behind, braving the Russian shelling.

She first led an online service for those congregants scattered abroad. Then, she officiated one in person for a small group in Poland, taken in by a Christian couple near Warsaw.

Gris lit Sabbath candles that she had carried from Ukraine, while her 19-year-old daughter Izolda played the guitar and sang, just as she had during services back home in her Reform community, Shirat ha-Yam.

“There were so many stories, so much crying and so much pain,” Gris said. “For those who are here, and even more so for those still in Ukraine.”

Gris and her daughter found safety after a 30-kilometer (20-mile) walk lugging suitcases and their two cats, reaching the border with Poland where they negotiated a 40-hour wait without food, water or toilets.
Over 600 new immigrants from Ukraine to land Sunday in largest one-day airlift
Over 600 new immigrants from Ukraine will land in Israel over the course of Sunday, the largest number since the start of the Russian invasion, the government said.

Russia’s ongoing offensive against Ukraine has prompted what is expected to be the largest wave of immigration to Israel, or aliyah, since the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s.

As of Sunday morning, 2,007 new immigrants from Ukraine have landed in Israel since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24. In all of 2021, just over 3,100 people immigrated to Israel from Ukraine, making it one of the largest sources of new immigrants to Israel even before the war.

According to the Jewish Agency, which facilitates immigration to Israel, over 7,500 people in Ukraine have contacted the organization about moving to Israel in the immediate future, as of Sunday morning.

Government officials have estimated that tens of thousands of people will ultimately immigrate in light of the conflict, though it was not clear on what basis they made those assessments.

The 614 immigrants scheduled to land Sunday arrived or were due to arrive on four flights. In the early hours of Sunday morning, 122 immigrants landed in Israel from Poland. Another 170 arrived from Moldova on Sunday afternoon, followed by another 162 set to arrive in the early evening from Poland and an additional 160 later Sunday night from Moldova, according to the Immigration and Absorption Ministry.


Jewish Agency facility in Poland: No more rooms, barely any food
The Jewish Agency facility in Warsaw, Poland, to absorb Jewish refugees is totally booked. There is also a major shortage of food at the hotel.

The Jewish Agency currently has different Refugee Centers in hotels set up in four European countries that share a border with Ukraine. At any given moment, thousands of Ukrainian Jews flow into these centers.

And yet, The Jerusalem Post has learned that there are major problems at the Polish center for Jewish refugees in Warsaw.

First, there isn't enough room for all of the refugees that arrive at the hotel.

The family member of an 80-year-old woman from Ukraine traveled for days in order to reach the hotel on Friday night, only to be told that there is no room for her and that "she should be back on Monday for a meeting with the Israeli consulate." Her family paid for the 40-kilometer-long journey as well as for a few nights in the hotel that the agency personnel had asked her to move to. Her family was able to afford hundreds of Euros worth of expenses, but most refugees cannot.

Furthermore, The Jerusalem Post received multiple complaints from Jews who are staying at the hotel that there is a shortage of food. The lack of food surprised the refugees this past Shabbat.


Another brick out of the wall: Pink Floyd pulls albums from Russia, Belarus
Pink Floyd front man Roger Waters, who is very vocal against Israel whenever it chooses to take action against Palestinian terrorist infrastructure, appears to have refrained from any explicit criticism of Russia's invasion of Ukraine since it began two and a half weeks ago.

However, Pink Floyd has issued a formal statement that it is pulling all of its albums released since 1987 off music streaming platforms in Russia and Belarus.

Albums to be removed include "The Division Bell," released in 1994, and "The Endless River," from 2014, but not 1979's iconic "The Wall."

The message, issued Friday, also said that Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour would be pulling all his solo albums from digital music providers in those two countries.

The message said that the move was intended to show solidarity "with the world in strongly condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine."
Co-chairs of House Abraham Accords Caucus hold first public event
The White House says it's investing in the success and expansion of the Abraham Accords. Congress wants to give them a nudge.

On Tuesday, the co-chairs of the US House of Representatives' Abraham Accords Caucus held their first public event, detailing the bipartisan nature of the effort to advance the normalization agreements signed between Israel and a number of Arab and Muslim-majority nations, and laying out an agenda for moving forward.

"The Abraham Accords, without question, are ushering in a new era. We've already a shift in the vision for Middle East nations, a shift in thinking as to what are the possibilities for peace, a shift in actions seen at the people-to-people level, seen in travel, in energy projects, everywhere," said Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.).

The Atlantic Council hosted a discussion with Schneider and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), who together with Reps. David Trone (D-Md.) and Ann Wagner (R-Mo.), are the co-founders of the bipartisan caucus. The Senate also formed an Abraham Accords Caucus, co-founded by Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Cory Booker (D-NJ).

"This is a way for Congress to reaffirm and continue to support what was launched. For Democrats and Republicans, in both the House and Senate, it was a momentous achievement. And it's important to build on it, so our caucus is looking for new economic, political and cultural opportunities. The caucus came about by members saying that we need to do whatever we can to promote these agreements, including traveling to these countries, to identify priorities in building alliances," said McMorris Rodgers.

"There are so many issues that divide Congress along party lines, and between the House and Senate. But I was on the White House lawn the day the Abraham Accords were signed, and everyone was celebrating this truly historic step. The US did and continues to play a crucial role, so this caucus was the natural next step. Let's make a positive difference together," added Schneider, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Moroccan national carrier launches direct Israeli flights, following pandemic delay
Royal Air Maroc took off from Morocco’s economic capital Casablanca bound for Tel Aviv on Sunday, in the carrier’s first direct flight to the Jewish state since the two countries normalized ties in 2020.

Aviation sources and local media sources said a Moroccan business delegation was on the inaugural flight, delayed by three months because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Casablanca/Tel Aviv for 400 euros ($440). Who would have believed it?” tweeted David Govrin, head of Israel’s liaison office in the Arab state.

Israel and Morocco restored their relations under the 2020 US-backed Abraham Accords normalizing ties between the Jewish state and several Arab countries.

The Moroccan carrier RAM is to fly four times a week between Casablanca and Tel Aviv, while Israeli airlines launched flights to Morocco’s Marrakesh last July, although they were suspended in late November because of coronavirus travel curbs.

Morocco is counting on 200,000 visitors from Israel, many of whose 700,000-strong Jewish community of Moroccan origins have retained close cultural links.
Palestinians warn of religious war if Jews ‘storm’ Temple Mount
Palestinian Authority officials on Sunday warned against attempts by Jews to “storm” al-Aqsa Mosque compound (Temple Mount) during Jewish holidays, saying this would trigger a “religious war.”

They called on Palestinians to converge on the site in the coming days to foil the alleged attempts.

Palestinians regularly condemn tours by Jews of the Temple Mount compound as “incursions” although the visitors do not enter the mosque itself.

The warning came less than a month before the start of the holy month of Ramadan, during which hundreds of thousands of Muslim worshipers attend prayers at al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock in the Old City of Jerusalem.

During last year’s Ramadan, clashes erupted between Palestinians and the Israeli police at the compound and in other parts of the Old City.
PMW: PA: 2 million Ukrainian refugees is less a tragedy than 2,000 Ukrainian Jews moving to Israel
Question: What is worse than 2 million Ukrainian refugees and thousands of Ukrainians being murdered?
Answer: 2000 Ukrainian Jews moving to Israel - according to the official PA daily.

The official PA daily headlined its article about Israel building 1,000 new housing units for Ukrainian Jews with the words: “Disaster for one [Ukrainians] is a greater disaster for another [Palestinians].” The phrase is a twist of the Arabic proverb: “Disaster for one is profit for another.”

Based on the often-expressed Palestinian world view that all international events are to be judged only based on how they impact on Palestinians, the PA daily sees the tragedy of thousands of murdered Ukrainian civilians and the flight of 2 million refugees as a lesser tragedy than the “tragedy” of Jewish Ukrainians immigrating to Israel.

Moreover, an additional question should also be asked: Why should the PA be opposed to Jews immigrating to Israel within the pre-1967 cease-fire lines, where the Ukrainian refugee immigrants are to be housed?

The PA answers this in the first sentence of the article:
“The World Zionist Organization’s Settlement Division announced that it has begun a process to establish 1,000 housing units in settlements to absorb Jews fleeing from Ukraine.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 2, 2022]

“Settlements” is the term the PA uses to refer to what they consider to be illegal Israeli building on so-called Palestinian land. To the international community the PA leaders say they mean building in the West Bank. To their own people all Israel is said to be “Palestinian land,” all Israeli cities are labeled “illegal settlements,” and all Israelis are “settlers.”
The war in Ukraine and the battle in Vienna
Biden won't submit his deal to Congress as a treaty (as he clearly should) so it won't bind the next administration. But Russian and Iranian negotiators are reportedly looking for a workaround.

For example, they might persuade Biden to agree that Iran's enriched uranium be stored in Russia, with the condition that it will be returned to Iran if, at any time, Putin and Iran's rulers jointly declare that the Americans are violating the agreement.

Or they might insist on an "inherent guarantee" that Iran's rulers get to keep their advanced centrifuges on standby with permission to continue enriching at 60% if they decide the U.S. has transgressed.

By contrast, non-compliance and even out-and-out cheating by the theocratic regime will be ignored or forgiven. We know that based on the experience with the JCPOA.

Relatedly, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, said on Saturday that a new deal cannot be concluded unless Tehran first settles outstanding issues relating to nuclear material found at former Iranian nuclear sites that the regime failed to declare.

That will require months. Can a deal be announced before these issues are settled?

Logically no but, in the current era, logic is not a major component in the patterns of behavior driving American foreign policy.

Was it logical to respond to Putin's many crimes over the years with a salad of carrots and not enough sticks to make a bonfire?

Was it logical to invite him to partner with the U.S. in negotiations with Iran's rulers while excluding the American allies most threatened by Iran's rulers?

Is it logical to give the theocrats in Tehran the means to do in the Middle East what Putin is doing in eastern Europe?

The Biden administration – building on the record of too many of its predecessors – has been establishing a shameful and damaging pattern of behavior: It is proving to be harmless as an enemy and treacherous as a friend.
I’m no Mossad spy, says Jewish journalist who interviewed Raisi, worked for Iran TV
On the eve of Iran’s 2017 presidential election, Ebrahim Raisi, who would become president in 2021, sat down to give an interview to the Russia Today news outlet. His interlocutor was a French citizen, Catherine Perez-Shakdam, then a practicing Shi’a Muslim.

The veiled, religiously observant Perez-Shakdam had become a regular figure in Iranian state media, giving favorable coverage to the regime and its proxies around the region. She wrote dozens of articles in English in the Iranian press and rubbed shoulders with some of the Middle East’s most notorious figures.

“Zionists are planning to annihilate Islam,” trumpeted the headline of one 2014 piece she wrote for the Iranian state mouthpiece. In the article, she vilified religious Israelis ascending to pray at the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site, as “rabid dogs.”

What Raisi likely did not know at the time was that Perez-Shakdam had been born to a Jewish family. Five years after her interview with the Iranian leader, Perez-Shakdam has become an atheist and reconnected with her long-discarded Jewish identity.

“It started to dawn on me that for years I had played into the hands of the very people who want us gone… For years, I was motivated by a kind of self-hate. But you realize that you can’t deny who you are,” Perez-Shakdam told The Times of Israel in an interview.

Perez-Shakdam wrote three posts on the Times of Israel’s blog platform in November, the third of which described her interview with Raisi. It went largely unnoticed for three months, but in recent days has started to make headlines in Persian and Arabic media, causing a social media firestorm even amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Iran Is Exploiting the War in Ukraine to Strengthen Its Presence in Syria
The Israel Defense Forces have beefed up their preparedness on the northern border after Iran announced the deaths of two Revolutionary Guards officers in a bombing allegedly by Israel of Iranian targets near Damascus International Airport.

Israeli security sources said the two officers were involved in Hizbullah’s PGM precision-guided-missile project.

Residents of southern Lebanon expressed fear that the Iranian response would be carried out by Hizbullah there. However, IDF sources believe the response could also come from pro-Iranian militias in Syria, Iraq, or Yemen using missiles or drones.

The Israeli assessment is that the Iranian response will come in any case but may be delayed by the Vienna nuclear talks. With the talks reportedly on the verge of an agreement (before Russia made its demand for its own sanctions relief), Israel believes that for now, Iran will not want to risk an escalation with Israel and the loss of the new status the agreement will grant it in terms of selling oil to the Western countries.

The two Iranian colonels killed in the attacks were buried in a large official funeral in Tehran attended by Revolutionary Guards Commander Mohammad Ali Jafari and Revolutionary Guards Air Force Commander General Ali Hajizadeh. Iran threatened to take revenge against Israel, and Israeli military intelligence believes the threat is serious and will be carried out when Iran feels the time is right.
Iran suspends talks with Saudi Arabia after mass execution — report
Iran has decided to temporarily suspend its secret Baghdad-brokered talks aimed at defusing yearslong tensions with regional rival Saudi Arabia, Iranian state-linked media reported Sunday, a day after Saudi Arabia carried out the largest known mass execution in its modern history.

The Iranian news website Nournews, considered close to the country’s Supreme National Security Council, reported the government had unilaterally paused the talks with Saudi Arabia that have been ongoing in Baghdad over the past year aimed at restoring diplomatic ties.

Iraq’s foreign minister earlier had said the fifth round of talks between Saudi and Iranian representatives was due to resume on Wednesday.

The report did not give a reason for Iran’s suspension, but it comes after Saudi Arabia put to death 81 people convicted of crimes ranging from killings to ties to militant groups, a group that activists believe included over three dozen Shiites.

Shiites, who live primarily in the kingdom’s oil-rich east, have long complained of being treated as second-class citizens. Saudi Arabia’s executions of Shiites have stirred regional unrest in the past.


Antisemitism: How the Internet Has Revived Old Anti-Jewish Tropes
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) defines “antisemitism” as, simply, hatred towards Jews. Despite ongoing debates concerning legitimate and illegitimate criticisms of Israel – addressed by the IHRA – numerous organisations and public bodies have adopted its framework. Arguably, we have something close to an official definition.

The term “antisemitism” has been used since being proposed by German writer Wilhelm Marr – himself an antisemite – in the late 19th century. There is a fairly broad consensus among academics that modern antisemitism stretches back at least 200 years, to the formation of European states. The persecution of Jews, however, stretches back much further, to biblical times and perhaps beyond.

While the study of anti-Jewish hatred has long been the preserve of historians, organisations such as the CST, the Institute of Jewish Policy Research and the Woolf Institute are developing a more data-driven picture of antisemitism today. But deciding on whether we take the historian’s long-view or crunch the latest stats need not be considered a zero sum game. We need both.

In fact, combining history and data science has already delivered valuable insights. Not least, that the “classic” historic tropes of antisemitism remain highly offensive to overwhelming majorities within Jewish communities.

At first glance, antisemitism found on the internet may appear to be a thoroughly modern invention. On Instagram and Twitter, we see terms commonly associated with antisemitism alongside contemporary conspiracy theories relating to COVID-19, the Illuminati group, chemtrails, 5G and the deep state. This feels about as 21st century as it gets. But dig a little deeper and the past emerges.

Hashtags on Instagram conveying strong anti-Israeli attitudes — such as #zionistagenda – regularly appear in conjuction with #devilworshipper and #newworldorderagenda. Similarly, #israhell is found with #saturndeathcultkiller (a historic antisemitic trope relating to Jews worshipping the planet Saturn).
As a conservative Republican, I’m deeply dismayed at lack of voices from GOP condemning McGeachin
Even more rare than Jewish Idahoans are Jewish members of the Idaho Republican Party. My involvement in the Idaho GOP has raised a few eyebrows over the years, but to me, conservative support of Israel, a tenet of the Republican platform since the early 1990s, is central to my political and Jewish identities. Israel is a beacon of hope, the only true democracy in the Middle East that upholds freedom, democracy and personal choice.

I am deeply dismayed to see the escalating dehumanization of Israel and the Jewish people from the extreme wings of both the right and left, including the endorsements of McGeachin by the likes of those who McGeachin has surrounded herself with, like Vincent James Foxx, a white supremacist, Vladimir Putin supporter and Holocaust denier. It’s appalling that Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin would participate as a speaker at a white nationalist event like AFPAC. It’s unimaginable to me that a sitting statewide official and candidate for Idaho governor would attend – let alone speak – at a white nationalist conference led by the likes of Nick Fuentes, James Foxx, and others who espouse political violence, the “purity” of the white race, and antisemitism.

Countering the political normalization of antisemitism and white nationalism starts by recognizing the deep history of prejudice against the Jewish people and how antisemitic conspiracies seek to undermine the America we are so proud of. Naming the scourge of antisemitism requires constant vigilance from all of us and should be modeled by our elected leaders.

Republicans must demand a basic standard of decency from our political candidates and elected officials. Janice McGeachin is falling far below those standards now: the company she keeps is repugnant, and her openness to anti-Semitic and anti-democracy worldviews is, simply, disqualifying. I invite my fellow conservatives to join me in calling for her resignation.


Rapyd Reaches $15 Billion Valuation, Becomes Israel’s Highest Valued Unicorn
Israeli fintech company Rapyd has reached a valuation of $15 billion. Calcalist has learned that the company was valued at this figure in several secondary deals over recent months in which early investors sold shares. Rapyd’s investors include BlackRock, Fidelity, General Catalyst, Target Global and Spark Capital. These recent secondary deals make Rapyd Israel’s highest valued private tech company and highest valued fintech company.

Founded in 2015 as CashDash by Arkady Karpman, Arik Shtilman, and Omer Priel, Rapyd offers payment services enabling the transfer of electronic funds across borders through various means of payment, including bank transfers, digital wallets, and cash.

Rapyd raised $300 million at a $10 billion valuation in its Series E last August. The company has raised $960 million in total to date, $160 million of which in secondary deals. Rapyd completed a $400 million funding round at a valuation of $2.5 billion in January of 2021.

Rapyd’s growing valuation is a testament to the success of its recent strategy of acquisitions, mainly of companies in Europe and Asia. The company acquired Icelandic payments company Valitor in a deal valued at $100 million last July. Valitor supplies payments solutions for businesses across Europe, providing both in-store and online payments acceptance solutions as well as card issuing to SMB merchants in Iceland, the UK, Ireland, and across Europe. A year earlier, Rapyd purchased Iceland-based credit card payment processing company Kortathjonustan hf (Korta), while earlier this year it completed the acquisition of Hong Kong-based Neat, a cross-border trade enabling platform for SMBs and startups.
Iranian Jews acquired tomb of Queen Esther and Mordechai, Israel's National Library reveals
Ahead of the Purim holiday, Israel's National Library has revealed the exchange of historical letters proving Iranian Jews purchased the Tomb of Esther and Mordechai in the Iranian city of Hamadan. The purchase of the land in 1971 marked 2,500 years to Persian King Cyrus the Great's edict allowing Babylonians to worship the god of their choice.

The letters reveal negotiations between Jewish representatives in the country and officials in Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's government toward the purchase of the land where, according to tradition, Queen Esther and her Mordechai and Esther, whose story is read in the Book of Esther on Purim, are buried.

There is no mention of their burial site in Jewish texts, making the issue of their tomb a matter of dispute. According to several traditions dating back to the Middle Ages, the two Jewish figures are buried in Hamadan. According to one of the traditions, following the death of King Ahasuerus, supporters of Haman, who attempted to have all the Jews in the kingdom killed, sought to exact revenge from Esther and Mordechai prompting the two to flee to Hamadan.

Initial evidence of the mausoleum's ties to Esther and Mordechai was provided by medieval Jewish traveler Benjamin of Tudela in the 12th century, who estimated Hamadan to have around 50,000 Jewish residents and described the tomb as being situated in front of the synagogue.

The extraordinary exchange was preserved by the ORT organization, maintained in the central archive in the National Library's Central Zionist Archives.

According to Dr. Samuel Thrope, the curator of the library's Middle East and Islam Collection, the letters are a testament to Iran's last shah having seen himself as Cyrus' successor and having sought to portray that image to his country's Jews. The 2,500-year anniversary to the Edict of Cyrus was precisely the event the shah had been looking for, Thrope said






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